Winter is upon us (well….some of us) and there is no better time for a hearty stew. Lucky for us, we have Susan from Susan Sink here to share with us this fantastic looking recipe. Take a look and make sure you look at her great blog Susan Sink…

For the past four years, since I got married and moved to an 80-acre farm, I’ve been focusing more and more on growing and cooking my own food. The biggest challenge, here in Minnesota, is the short season—and that I never gardened before!

In December, I’m down to storage vegetables. However, thanks to the national trend in cooking seasonally, it is easier to find good recipes that feature butternut squash and kale, two ingredients I have.

This year I also managed to grow about 3 cups of dried Irish Creek Annie and Calypso beans. I like the Calypso beans, which are white with a black spot and grow in puffed white pods, but they aren’t as prolific as the Irish Creek Annies.

I found this recipe on epicurious.com and adapted it in several ways, including adding peppers for spice.

White Bean, Squash, Kale and Olive Stew

¼ cup olive oil

1 onion, diced

4-6 garlic cloves, minced

½ cup mild peppers (I used dried poblano peppers, which gave it less color but more flavor than red peppers)

2 cups peeled, diced butternut squash (You can buy this already prepared. If using a butternut squash, peel the skin and dice. You can just use half of the squash and use the other half for another dish.)

1 can vegetable or chicken broth (You need enough to cover the squash. You can add even more if you want this to be more of a soup than a stew.)

1 ½ bunches of kale or spinach (I had frozen garden spinach). For kale, strip the leaves from the ribs and chop into 2-inch pieces.

3-4 cups of white beans (2 small cans of cannellini or northern white beans would work)

½ cup pitted Kalmata olives, halved

1 Tbs dried sage

salt and pepper to taste

grated Parmesan to finish

Sauté onion in oil until soft, about 8 minutes. Add garlic and peppers and sauté 2 minutes. Add broth and butternut squash and simmer 10 minutes, until squash can be pierced with a fork. Add beans, olives and kale (if fresh) and cook for another 5 minutes, until kale is wilted and soft. If using spinach, fresh or frozen, you will need less time for it to cook, so add it after the beans are heated through and cook just until wilted.